Data storage technology over the years has evolved from a direct attached storage model (DAS) to using remote computer storage models, such as Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Storage Area Network (SAN). With the direct storage model, the storage is directly attached to the workstations and applications servers, but this creates numerous difficulties with administration, backup, compliance, and maintenance of the directly stored data. These difficulties are alleviated at least in part by separating the application server/workstations form the storage medium, for example, using a computer storage network.
A typical NAS system includes a number of networked servers (e.g., nodes) for storing client data and/or other resources. The servers may be accessed by client devices (e.g., personal computing devices, workstations, and/or application servers) via a network such as, for example, the Internet. Specifically, each client device may issue data access requests (e.g., corresponding to read and/or write operations) to one or more of the servers through a network of routers and/or switches. Typically, a client device uses an IP-based network protocol, such as Common Internet File System (CIFS) and/or Network File System (NFS), to read from and/or write to the servers in a NAS system.
Conventional NAS servers include a number of data storage hardware components (e.g., hard disk drives, processors for controlling access to the disk drives, I/O controllers, and high speed cache memory) as well as an operating system and other software that provides data storage and access functions. In a conventional (e.g., 7-Mode) data storage environment, each server manages its own data. However, in a cluster-mode (e.g., C-Mode) environment, data may be distributed and managed across multiple servers. For example, individual storage containers may be created from a pool of hardware resources distributed among a node cluster. Thus, a particular node in a node cluster may be operable to manage data stored on other nodes in the cluster. Differences in data storage and management techniques may pose significant challenges when attempting to migrate data between different data storage environments.